Anyone using a Saitek gamepad?

Hey there...i'm considering picking up a Saitek P3000 wireless gamepad. The thing is it only has 8 buttons and i'm wondering if people get by with that amount of buttons generally. I'm a novice but love the game, so I assume i'll learn and need more of the buttons as I get better.

Anyhow, this pad is reviewed well and is wireless, but opinions with this game would be great....

Here's a review link with pics for anyone interested...

http://www.avault.com/hardware/print_re ... =saitekp3k

Thx
Steph

it lookz good lookz like a ps2 controller. i reccomend gettin it although i havent played wid it

I would definitely recommend at least 10 buttons.

Get the Thrustmaster Dual Analog pad, sits very nice in the hands and has 12 buttons - aligned perfectly (like the PS2 controller, plus two additional shoulder buttons on the bottom of the pad; you can also press the analog sticks and use that as buttons)

I actually have that exact controller. I bought it about 4 or 5 months ago becuz like every 3 months id have to buy a new controller because the wiring was flawed or something.

I bought it around when i got Madden 2004 and it is really good. It has two batteries so u can charge one while u use one. The only complaint i have is its kinda hard to reach those buttons on the far right. And by the way it has 10 buttons, if u press down the joysticks they act like buttons too.

Overall its a very good controller.

hey there Adam...

so how are you finding it with NBA Live...do you get all the controls going fairly easily to your liking to play well?

Steph

Ya i can play fine with it.

ive ben playin live since 95 and i havet had to change the way i play with this controller.

awesome.....thx for the info...might just have to go get it....

Now if only there were some decent wireless speakers to go with the rest of my wireless setup

Steph

Logitech dual action Gamepad. It is PS2ly great! I like it better than my P3000, mainly because it isn't as bulky.

I use a P880 controller which is almost the same controller (not wireless). You can do everything in live with it. I think I have everything bound except for the pausing and playcalling because I don't like using the analog stick press-down buttons. You can put playcalling on the D-Pad or you can use the software that comes with it put 4-8 more buttons on the D-Pad. It also has a shift button which can double how many buttons you have, but I don't imagine that's easy to use in a game with this kind of pace.

The only gripe I have with the controller itself is that the buttons are a little small and have a bit higher travel time than say a Microsoft Sidewinder where the buttons have shorter action.

Catawba....does the shift button have to be held down to use?...can you map something directly to the shift button?

I have a wired wingman rumblepad but one of the analog sticks have broken off making it really suck....one thing i like is that when i use the analog sticks in Live, it automatically maps the four points of the digital D-pad with the 4 quick plays...does your saitek pad do that as well?

Caesar121...I like that pad too and would buy it in a second if it was wireless...that's a mandatory feature for me.

Thx for all the input. Any and all welcome from the veteran players here.

Steph

No you don't have to hold down the shift button and it can be bound to a key so you can use it as a button instead, and yes you can use the D-Pad for the quick plays.

even though my control isnt wirless, its a saitek (p880) and i think its a peice of shit, the buttons are too small and too close 2geather, the pads on the analog sticks wear off to easy, the shoulder buttons (7 & 8) tend to not respond as fast if tapped, u gotta pretty much slam on em, i recommend any logitec control, they also have a wirelss, and they have one thats the spittin image of a ps2 control

I use Saite P880 and I can recommend it to you; it has just one problem: 8 buttons. You miss one more for playcalling, as upper ones are reserved to alley-hoop and direct pass.

Question for Catawba or Mintzberg...

I just got the P3000 which is, as noted, he same as the p880 but wireless...what profile do you guys use in game to configure the controller. There is none listed for the Saitek pads by default. I configured a generic listing and renambed it but then i didn't get the quick plays going on the digital pad as a result. I then tried configuring using a wingman rumblepad profile...this time i got it all good but freestyle was no good. Any suggestions or at least a description of what you guys did to ge it to work with all the buttons?...thx in advance.

Steph

iam currently using a wingman rumble pad by logitech and it comes with 9 buttons (including start button) i just sacrifice the allyoop button.

I used a generic the same way you did. On the controller config screen look at the upper left corner where it says Offense/Defense. You should be able to switch that to general where you can bind the Freestyle, Quickplays, and Movement however you choose.

awesome info catawba..totally missed that. Thx and will look for it now...

Cheers
Steph